Tues Summer League notes

[Michael Ryan]

Watched the Slats team and the Flessa team play tonight.  Here are some
thoughts: 

Slats team included Chadd, Armein and Donald Little.  Field was
unavailable. Taron was there, but did not play.  Levett played Sunday
but was not there this eve.  Typical early games of the SL.   No
official stats were kept and I didn't know this until after the game,
otherwise I would've paid more attention.   Flessa had Damon Flint,
LaZelle Durden, BJ Grove, Derek Hollman and Maxiell. 

First game: 
CHADD: great handles and good vision.  Drove the baseline well, but the
tall trees usually stopped his layups.  He'll need to dish that ball in
the future.  By my count, Chadd had just one trey against four misses,
and a few missed mid range jumpers. He did sink some J's though. He also
did little things well and has good quick feet.  Had a great block late
in the game as he caught the guy from behind and spanked his layup.  Got
some oohs and aahhs.   I didn't count the assists, but I can think of
two I really liked. 

ARMEIN: "Kirk" had two mid range jumpers and a trey. He did miss 4 other
three's from my count. (Again, all unofficial).  Armein reminds me of
Patterson, though his first step is not as quick as Ruben's. But Kirk is
more consistent from outside. Armein will need to work on dee, but he
dribbles much better than a 6-7 guy should.  

Slats got crushed by the David West led Mike Albert team. (Mental note:
West hit two trey's)  The game was 'over' about mid way thru the 1st
half. 

Second game: 
BJ GROVE: Randy Shinkle and I traded notes earlier today and we
discussed 'stamina' as BJ's biggest issue.  That was again confirmed
this evening. Sheesh. Late in the game, the Cincinnati-based Flessa team
was up by less than 10 and BJ was on the bench dripping with sweat and
very tired.  Coach didn't want to use him with the game on the line, I
guess. I have to admit his footwork near the basket looked good.  Has a
good spin move, even though he's bigger than he should be. 

MAXIELL:  The "Long Arm Of the Law" looks the same, which is good !
Couple of nice monster dunks to get the crowd going.   The Flessa team
won by approx six in a good game. 

It was great to see LaZelle and Damon running with Max, BJ, etc.
'Zelle is as quick today as he was 6 years ago.   Damon said he will
likely go back to the Philippines to play, which is where he was till
this past week. Art Long is also on his team ( ! ). LaZelle continues to
work with his brother in keeping our young people away from drugs with
his company, Drug Deterrent. LaZelle: cute kid ya got there !

Mike Ryan